And We Hope You All Had a Happy Holidays!!
Let’s Catch up on the last two weeks of 2023
USC Dual
The dual versus Upper St. Clair was the team’s first opportunity of the season to have all three school teams together. Canon McMillan was able to make a clean sweep of the night from top to bottom. Starting with the Middle School match-up where the Big Macs rode nine falls to a 64-24 victory. The Lady Macs took the mat to follow that up with ten falls of their own to go for a 72-12 victory. Lastly for the night, the varsity Big Macs found seven falls on their way to a 54-18 victory. With all those falls, it’s difficult to single out any wrestler with these monstrous team efforts. These victories were a great way to push into the coming holiday tournaments. Thank you to the Upper St. Clair district for recording the events.
Findlay Invitational Girls High School Tournament
The Lady Macs jumped right on a bus after the USC match to head to the F.I.G.H.T. in Findlay. They battled hard at the tournament and the team was able to secure 5th place overall. Able to grab podium spots were Lailani Ramos with 8th, Capri Chambers and Audrey Calgaro with 7th, and Bailey Emery and Natalie Rush with 2nd. While none were able to secure overall victory, this team is growing an gaining momentum in their run to defend their State Championship title.
Rush named PG Athlete of the Week
Just after the Findlay Tournament, the Post-Gazette named Natalie Rush one of the athlete’s of the week. They took the time to highlight her Lady Mac wrestling accolades and had a short interview where you can get some insight in the girl of the week.
This wrapped up the week for CM wrestling as all teams had a short but sweet Christmas break and got ready for the next BIG tournament.
Bring on POWERADE
Powerade kicked off action with Junior and Girls Tournaments on Wednesday and Thursday.
CCNS was able to place one girl in the girls elementary group. Briella Collins was able to battle through and grab fourth place. While no other CCNS wrestler was able to get to the podium, it was still a great showing for them all.
On the other hand, the Lady Macs ramped off of their success at Findlay. They spring boarded the team to a first place finish by a margin of 71.5 points. The team was able to place four into the finals. While only one was able to take gold on the day, it’s still an incredible showing for such a young team. Bailey Emery, Paige Ward, and Audrey Calgaro all made it to the finals where they each fell just short and garnered second place. Natalie Rush was able to finish off her impressive run during the tournament to gather first place and was this time recognized by the Observer-Reporter.
Many of the Junior High wrestlers entered into the Junior age group tournament mostly wrestling in the 15 and under group. There were three wrestlers who came one win short, in very large brackets, of securing a place spot. However, there were three that were able to stand on the podium. Caleb Anderson came back from a first round loss to grab fourth place. Austin Smith fought back from a semi-final loss to get third place. Finally, Owen Rush battled to a first place finish.
There was also a Junior High girls division that some of our wrestlers completed in. While there were only seven that are Junior High age with our girls team, two of them were able to secure places. Addie Saussol and Aracelli Clem both took fourth place.
The Junior Varsity Powerade Tournament was completed on Thursday evening. The team place 17 wrestlers into the JV tournament and fought to the bitter end. After all the work was done, Blake Ward came out in fourth place. Vincent Binni was able to work all the way to second place.
The Varsity team only entered eight wrestlers into the loaded tournament that featured nearly 60 nationally ranked wrestlers across 69 schools from 12 states. One of those nationally ranked wrestlers includes our very own Andrew Binni at #18 at 127 lbs. Binni was the only member of the Big Macs to place at Powerade. He was able to take a win from the #14 wrestler, Colin Martin of Stauntion River, VA. However he dropped matches in the Semifinals to #3 Jax Forrest and the consolation finals to an honorably mentioned ranking Manuel Saldate.
Alumni Banquet
In the midst of Christmas and Powerade, we want to thank all of the alumni who attended the banquet in which Tanny Deliere, David Cook, Lenny Patnesky and Keilan O’Daniel were all honored by the alumni association for their dedication to the wrestling organization.
It a great time to catch up with wrestlers of years past an honor the men who continue to contribute their efforts to our teams.
Catch UP with the Collegiate Wrestlers
We have a number of wrestlers around the collegiate level. We’ll start with Brandon Dami who currently holds a 7-10 record. He has made it to the blood round of 2 tournaments. Gabe Stafford is wrestling with Edinboro. He has a had a few opportunities at the beginning of the year. He wrestled in the Ohio State Dual and the Clarion Open. Grace Elliot is wrestling with the University of the Cumberlands. She has amassed a 10-7 record while collecting a title at the Trojan Open. She also competed at the Senior Nationals. Gerrit Nijenhuis is competing with Oklahoma. He has posted 8-7 record. He had to medically forfeit out of the Michigan State Open to collect 6th place. He fell short in the Reno Tournament of Champions to his teammate to collect 2nd. He recently tabbed 8th at the Southern Scuffle.
Onto the new Year
First up for the new year will be a joint bout for JH, Girls and Varsity against Mt. Lebanon. It will be Senior Night! Then forward into the TRICADA tournament which will again be hosted at Canon McMillan High School.
With all of those in the books, we look onto the new year with hope. Hope for all of these successful teams we are building in this Canon McMillan program. Hope for all of wrestling families for be happy and healthy.